Opinions on flying in day of cruise...

My 2cents....don't.....I fly in the day before for a domestic cruise...I want to spend the night in the city where my ship will meet me!! To many things could happen, and frankly the airlines don't care....that also kind of forces you to book the cruise lines air, so they can be responsible for you IF something happens....

I will never fly the day of cruise. We had an 8:30 pm flight from PHL to LHR on June 3. Ultimately delayed for 4 hours, but took off at 12:30 AM. We arrived at LHR, an hour thru immigration and ride to hotel in London took us to 2:00 pm. We could not have made the ship in Southampton, if it were leaving that day. This was the first time I have had flight problems, but enough to convince me not to fly international the day of a cruise. I was terribly stressed out as it was, but at least I was not worried about missing the ship!!

Good news everyone, I convinced him to fly in the day before and my parents as well. We will fly in Friday May 24, take the private tour with pickup at heathrow to Stonehenge, with a drop off at a port hotel. We even just booked the Holiday Inn Southampton which is only .75 miles away. It is perfect. Thank you all for your suggestions.

Enjoy the cruise

Good news everyone, I convinced him to fly in the day before and my parents as well. We will fly in Friday May 24, take the private tour with pickup at heathrow to Stonehenge, with a drop off at a port hotel. We even just booked the Holiday Inn Southampton which is only .75 miles away. It is perfect. Thank you all for your suggestions.

That's great. Much less stress all the way around. Enjoy your cruise:D

Good choice! It’s not just the worry about getting to the ship on time, it’s the total stress and exhaustion from flying overnight. You’ll enjoy your cruise so much more after a night’s sleep in a bed!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

DH told me I sold him by telling him it was the only way to get Stonehenge in. :) So that is what I need to do next time, is tell him we could do something that interests him if we add the day :)

Good news, enjoy the trip

While this appears closed out, I'll add a secondhand story from our 18 June Royal Princess UK cruise out of S'hampton. We flew in on Sat AM for the Monday cruise because we had people coming on different flights, 2/3rds of our crew were kids or seniors, and we love touring London. But we spoke with another family later in the cruise who flew from the US the day of embarkation.

Their flight was late and they missed the ship. Well, most such cruises go to Guernsey the next day. No cruise line is going to get you to Guernsey. So you miss that. And thus you end up either getting some flight to Cork airport and then making your way to Cobh, missing 1.5 days of the cruise, or they make you go to Dublin, missing 2.5 days of the cruise. And their description of how they got to Cobh and the interactions with the cruise line made us realize that we never wanted to chance that.

Also, we found that this cruise did not leave us relaxed by the end, owing to its port-heavy itinerary. So we found the touring London BEFORE the cruise was perfect. Best case, the extra day(s) are touring in London. Worst case, the extra days are eaten by delays or by recovering from a bad flight or illness.

Mrs Emma Peels anecdote, should make everybody think about arriving at the ship on the day of the flight. Most people have invested a lot of money on the cruise, why waste it by pushing your luck with flights on the day of the embarkation. Hardly makes for a stress free start to the holiday.

Mrs Emma Peels anecdote, should make everybody think about arriving at the ship on the day of the flight. Most people have invested a lot of money on the cruise, why waste it by pushing your luck with flights on the day of the embarkation. Hardly makes for a stress free start to the holiday.

The key is to know the risks and to evaluate them for oneself: Can I actually fly a day earlier? If I don't, can I (and how can I) reduce the risk of being so late that I miss the ship? How much backup is there likely to be (eg later flights, alternative routings) if something goes wrong with my booked flights? How easy is it to get from the airport to the ship in a screaming hurry if I end up cutting it fine? How much does it matter if I do miss the ship? Where and when is the next port? How can I get there? Will I be allowed to board there? And if I can't, so I completely miss the cruise, what's the downside (eg will I simply be missing a three-day short break, or will my three week-long special trip be wrecked)? And given those risks, should I therefore fly a day earlier?

Unfortunately, all of this requires some time to research, and some mental energy to ponder. Many people invest money in the holiday, but are strangely reluctant to invest either of these things into these questions. When you couple that with a demographic that is often inexperienced in the first maxim of travel - sometimes it will just go horribly, inexorably and irretrievably wrong and there will be nothing you can do about it - you can get horror stories.

We booked our British Isles cruise for our 20th anniversary in May of next year. We have intentions of flying in the day of with a direct flight from RDU to Heathrow. My husband is adamant about not flying in the day before due to vacation time concerns since our cruise is on a Saturday our flight would be Friday night a day early would mean Thursday night. Our flight would arrive around 6:50am UK time. What does everyone think? I know that the chances of lost baggage go down when there are no connections. We were also thinking of doing a private taxi with touring Stonehenge on the way.

 

Appreciate the help. I am pushing hubby to do the day before but he's not thrilled with that and we have to book our flights next week.

Most people don't have problems with flying in day of cruise.

It is a fair distance to Southampton,Dover or Harwich docks too.

Even when we sail from Southampton UK we still overnight in Southampton as it is so much more relaxing.

Bear in mind the jet lag factor.

Most people don't have problems with flying in day of cruise.

It is a fair distance to Southampton,Dover or Harwich docks too.

Even when we sail from Southampton UK we still overnight in Southampton as it is so much more relaxing.

Thank you! We did decide to fly in the day before so we can see Stonehenge on the way to the port. We will spend the night down the road from the port at the Holiday Inn Southhampton so we do not have to worry about rushing around that day. Apparently all I had to do to convince my husband to do this was tell him we could see Stonehenge :)

Thank you! We did decide to fly in the day before so we can see Stonehenge on the way to the port. We will spend the night down the road from the port at the Holiday Inn Southhampton so we do not have to worry about rushing around that day. Apparently all I had to do to convince my husband to do this was tell him we could see Stonehenge :)

Thank you! We did decide to fly in the day before so we can see Stonehenge on the way to the port. We will spend the night down the road from the port at the Holiday Inn Southhampton so we do not have to worry about rushing around that day. Apparently all I had to do to convince my husband to do this was tell him we could see Stonehenge :)

Good call lol ...

We always fly in a day ahead. Last year our flight into Atlanta was delayed by 5 hours so missed our flight to Amsterdam. We were not able to get another flight until the next afternoon and we were in business class. Long story short after running through airports we arrived at our ship one hour before sailing. This year we are flying in two days in advance. The customer agent in Atlanta told us if you fly on a Saturday and experience a delay or cancellation you have a big problem.

On my very first cruise we only had a 3 hour flight, but had such a severe delay that we almost missed the ship. I would never fly in the same day again, and especially not a transatlantic flight. Statistically, long delays are fairly rare, but that’s no comfort when it means you miss embarkation, and have to find a way to catch up to the ship.

We'll be on this cruise with you, OP. I've flown to LHR many times and it's hit and miss on getting there at the posted time, no matter the airline or departure city. I consider London to be a 'port' and plan accordingly. The jet lag going from the east coast of the US to LHR is enough to wear me down the first day. We're flying in on May 22 next year so we can enjoy the first couple days of our cruise. I'd rather wander around London (again!) for a day or two than try to get to Southampton by the time the ship leaves on May 25. See you on board! We're on deck 14 all the way to the stern in that angled balcony cabin.

Yeah, I finally got hubby to agree to flying in the day before and we will get a private transfer so we can go visit Stonehenge on the way to Southhampton. Apparently the way you get my hubby to agree to something is offering up something he wouldn't be able to do otherwise :)

Yeah, I finally got hubby to agree to flying in the day before and we will get a private transfer so we can go visit Stonehenge on the way to Southhampton. Apparently the way you get my hubby to agree to something is offering up something he wouldn't be able to do otherwise :)

Congrats, I think you've made the right decision. Every single flight we've had to Europe has been delayed... & that's flying nonstop from LAX without any possible weather problems. Luckily we've had only one luggage mishap, since we were in Rome for 5 days, we had time for it to catch up with us. Enjoy your cruise, & your Anniversary. :)

Congrats, I think you've made the right decision. Every single flight we've had to Europe has been delayed... & that's flying nonstop from LAX without any possible weather problems. Luckily we've had only one luggage mishap, since we were in Rome for 5 days, we had time for it to catch up with us. Enjoy your cruise, & your Anniversary. :)

Both Times we have flown through Europe on our big tours (African safari 14 days, and Italy 14 days) at least one piece of our luggage has been lost. In Italy we were there a day early and got it right before we hit the road on tour. In Africa, took them 2 days to get us our luggage and the exchange was done in the middle of Samburu Wildlife reserve. Wildest thing to see! haha

Both Times we have flown through Europe on our big tours (African safari 14 days, and Italy 14 days) at least one piece of our luggage has been lost. In Italy we were there a day early and got it right before we hit the road on tour. In Africa, took them 2 days to get us our luggage and the exchange was done in the middle of Samburu Wildlife reserve. Wildest thing to see! haha

That’s fine if it is possible. Many people (I’m grateful not me) have no choice but to make connections. I’m lucky that I can get to so many places non-stop.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Both Times we have flown through Europe on our big tours (African safari 14 days, and Italy 14 days) at least one piece of our luggage has been lost. In Italy we were there a day early and got it right before we hit the road on tour. In Africa, took them 2 days to get us our luggage and the exchange was done in the middle of Samburu Wildlife reserve. Wildest thing to see! haha

That's pretty amazing :) We've had lost luggage twice, once on our honeymoon to Cancun (this was in 1986, Cancun was just getting started with only 3 hotels if I recall correctly. 2nd time was the Rome trip.... I pack a lot lighter now. :D

We have learned to pack at least 1 set of clothes in a carry on, and then half mine and half hubby's in each bag just so that if only one gets lost, not all of one person's is lost. He learned that after his got lost in Italy :)